Crafting Masculine Selves

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Chiovenda
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Select Group ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology ◽  
The Individual

Crafting Masculine Selves represents a journey into the culture and psychological dynamics of a select group of Afghan Pashtun men. The book is based on eighteen months of fieldwork in a volatile area of Afghanistan, adjoining the border with Pakistan, carried out between 2009 and 2013. In addition to participant observation, the author employed a person-centered ethnographic methodology, wherein he conducted long-term, one-on-one interview sessions with four male individuals, and analyzed four additional life trajectories. The book unveils and chronicles how the creation and use of multiple subjectivities, and the unconscious, dissociative interplay that the individual maintains between them, is one of the “stratagems” with which individuals manage to make sense of what happens to them in real life, and to pragmatically inhabit personal circumstances that are often marred by conflict and violence, both at the interpersonal and at the political level. The main cultural thread the book investigates is that of masculinity, a crucial idiom in a very androcentric Pashtun society. Virtually all the interlocutors the book presents have to navigate deep private conflicts and contradictions related to how society expects them to be appropriate, proper men, against the backdrop of a sociopolitical Afghan context heavily impacted by almost forty years of uninterrupted war. Feeling constrained by the strict norms about a severe and honor-bound masculinity in a quickly changing Afghanistan, but equally striving to be culturally validated by their own peers, these men struggle to create and publicly legitimize their own, idiosyncratic way of being appropriate men. While they suffer at times the stern rebuke of their social environment, all the same they represent the seeds for a change of those very cultural norms.

Social Responsibility and Healthcare in Finland

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHANNA AHOLA-LAUNONEN
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Socioeconomic Groups ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Health Differences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Luck Egalitarian

Abstract:This article examines current trends and prospects in Finnish healthcare literature and discussion. The Finnish healthcare system was long considered to manifest an equal, universal, and solidaristic welfare scheme. However, recent data reveals structural inequalities in access to healthcare that result in health differences among socioeconomic groups. The political will aims at tackling these inequalities, but the ideological trend toward responsibilization of the individual taking place across political spheres elsewhere in Europe creates potential challenges to this goal. The applications of this trend have a theoretical background in the responsibility-sensitive egalitarian—or luck egalitarian—tradition. The theory, which is unfit for real-life policy applications, has explicit appeal in considerations aiming at the responsibilization of the individual within the healthcare sector. It remains to be seen in which direction the Finnish welfare schemes will continue to develop.

scholarly journals The Making of a Work-ready Individual: The Political Economy of Time in a Workfare Program in Israel

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052097678
Author(s):  
Sara Helman
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Time Density

A neoliberal policy ideal, workfare, aims to transform the long-term unemployed into “work-ready” individuals. Studies of workfare examine their use of technologies of agency and coercion, but do not sufficiently delve into the political economy of time’s role in these technologies. Based on 9 months of participant observation in an Israeli workfare program, this article analyzes how it exploited time and temporality to transform social assistance benefits into a “wage.” I argue that in calculating participants’ activities through “time accountancy,” workfare prepares the unemployed for precarious unemployment at the lower rungs of the labor market. Time accountancy disciplines the unemployed through the enforcement of time regularity and punctuality, under threat of loss of benefits, yet in the absence of time density. Workfare’s apparently incongruous training in efficient “time management” and contrasting “time-filling” practices find concordance in preparing the long-term unemployed for low-wage jobs requiring docility and obedience, for precarious flexible work where new forms of digital and biometric control proliferate.

scholarly journals When the scars begin to heal: narratives of obstetric violence in Chiapas, Mexico

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna Murray de Lopez
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Clinical Analysis ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health Implications ◽  
Ethnographic Interviews ◽  
Obstetric Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
The Individual

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how obstetric violence is embodied and understood by the women who experience it, how it impacts on maternal subjectivity and what the long-term health implications may be. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a qualitative, non-clinical analysis of women’s experiences of obstetric violence in Mexico. Data sources are derived from ethnographic interviews, participant observation and an extensive revision of public reports and policy. Findings Local ideas and beliefs over what one must endure to become a “good mother” contribute to how acts of obstetric violence are treated and interpreted by professionals, the community and the individual alike. The ways in which women interpret violence in relation to the wider context of their everyday lives have significant implications for evaluating the effectiveness of approaches to reproductive and maternal health. Social implications Situating women’s narratives within an ecological framework of gender-based violence reveals not only the conditions under which obstetric violations occur, but also the forms of resilience and coping mechanisms that women develop. This provides a deeper understanding for the long-term health implications of iatrogenic trauma during pregnancy and birth. Originality/value This paper discusses obstetric violence from the perspective of women who experience it and contextualises it within the wider life course approach to personhood and maternal transformation.

scholarly journals NGURUP CIMPLUNG: FOOD SECURITY STRATEGY IN BANJARNEGARA HOUSEHOLD

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Nurul Friska Dewi
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Survival Strategy ◽  
Security Strategy ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The People ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Local Traditions

<p><em>This study aims to look at the lives of farmers from a survival strategy perspective. An ethnographic approach is used with participant observation and interviews. The results of the study show that despite changes due to modernization of agriculture, local traditions and knowledge are still carried out. There are at least two strategies that are carried out in overcoming food security in their households, namely the short-term strategy, done by “ngurup cimplung”, taking plants around that can be used for daily needs. Whereas the long-term strategy is done by carrying out various rituals, namely “gethekan”, “Ujungan Ritual”, as well as istisqa prayers, all of which are to wish the Divine pleasure to keep nature-friendly with them. The strategy of performing this ritual also has a large function in food security both at the community and household level and even at the individual level. Each special event usually serves local food. For them, the efforts made are as an exchange effort, as “ngurup cimplung” is an economic exchange effort. Performing rituals by presenting a variety of foods are believed to get an equivalent fortune even more abundant than that given. Although rice is a staple food in every activity, the people of Gumelem, Banjarnegara can still use it wisely as a food security effort.</em></p><p><br /><em>Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat kehidupan petani dari perspektif survival strategy. Pendekatan etnografi digunakan dengan teknik observasi partisipan dan wawancara. Hasil studi menunjukkan meskipun terjadi perubahan akibat modernisasi pertanian, tetapi tradisi dan pengetahuan lokal tetap dilakukan. Ada dua strategi yang dilakukan petani yaitu strategi jangka pendek yaitu dengan “ngurup cimplung”, mengambil tanaman di sekitar yang bisa dimanfaatkan untuk kebutuhan sehari-hari. Sedangkan strategi jangka panjang dilakukan dengan melakukan berbagai ritual, yaitu “gethekan”, ritual adat ujungan, maupun sholat istisqa yang kesemuanya adalah mengaharap ridha Ilahi agar alam tetap bersahabat dengan mereka. Dengan melakukan ritual ini juga memiliki fungsi besar dalam ketahanan pangan baik di level komunitas maupun rumah tangga bahkan individu. Setiap kegiatan khusus biasanya menyuguhkan pangan lokal. Bagi mereka, upaya yang dilakukan adalah sebagai upaya pertukaran, sebagaimana “ngurup cimplung” merupakan upaya pertukaran ekonomi. Sedangkan melakukan ritual dengan menyuguhkan berbagai makanan dipercaya akan mendapatkan rejeki yang setara bahkan lebih berlimpah dari yang diberikan. Meskipun beras menjadi makanan pokok di setiap aktivitas, tetapi masyarakat Gumelem, Banjarnegara tetap bisa menggunakan dengan bijak sebagai upaya ketahanan pangan.</em></p>

scholarly journals Real-Life Self-Control is Predicted by Parietal Activity During Preference Decision Making: A Brain Decoding Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus-Martin Krönke ◽  
Holger Mohr ◽  
Max Wolff ◽  
Anja Kräplin ◽  
Michael N. Smolka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Brain Decoding ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
The Individual

AbstractDespite its relevance for health and education, the neurocognitive mechanism of real-life self-control is largely unknown. While recent research revealed a prominent role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the computation of an integrative value signal, the contribution and relevance of other brain regions for real-life self-control remains unclear. To investigate neural correlates of decisions in line with long-term consequences and to assess the potential of brain decoding methods for the individual prediction of real-life self-control, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging during preference decision making with ecological momentary assessment of daily self-control in a large community sample (N = 266). Decisions in line with long-term consequences were associated with increased activity in bilateral angular gyrus and precuneus, regions involved in different forms of perspective taking, such as imagining one’s own future and the perspective of others. Applying multivariate pattern analysis to the same clusters revealed that individual patterns of activity predicted the probability of real-life self-control. Brain activations are discussed in relation to episodic future thinking and mentalizing as potential mechanisms mediating real-life self-control.

scholarly journals The Dialectical of Life and Death in Contemporary Sōka Gakkai

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Funeral Rites ◽  
Soka Gakkai ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
Funeral Practices

Doctrinal reasoning, the practice of chanting nam-myōho-renge-kyō and its vision for kōsen-rufu has been how Sōka Gakkai (SG) promulgated Nichiren Buddhism. This paper explores, in an in-depth anthropological manner, how doctrinal issues matter significantly in the meaning of funeral practices in contemporary SG. So-called Friend Funerals have become widely common and demonstrate how SG members’ understanding of death and mortuary rites differ in some significant ways from common practices in Japan. To understand why specific funeral rituals are not in and of themselves considered of primary importance when a person dies in SG, this paper discusses its reading of key tenants of Nichiren Buddhism. What hotoke or buddha means is commonly seen in Japan as something achieved upon death facilitated by specific funeral rites. How such views fundamentally differ in SG is explored here based on long-term fieldwork and participant observation, as well as interviews and review of its doctrine. The research suggests that SG members engage in a cross-generational endeavour for kōsen-rufu where personal actions—what could be described as the ‘political’ existence of this life—matters but in a non-dualistic way as this simultaneously becomes the sphere that ‘transcends’ that contemporary existence. How one views death is not only seen as something relevant at the end of life, nor only to those remaining, but is taken as a reality that becomes the impetus for giving deeper meaning to how one acts in daily life as part of a cross-generational movement.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 225-236
Author(s):  
Margaret A. McLaren
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Economic Justice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Grassroots Organizations ◽  
Solidarity Economy ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Fair Trade Organizations

This chapter suggests that we use the broader framework of feminist social justice to analyze oppression and exploitation at the global level. Noting that in real life the ethical and the political overlap, the chapter advocates a dual-track approach to problems of injustice, both individual, immediate aid and long-term systemic changes. Emphasizing the connections between local economic institutions, such as cooperatives and Fair Trade organizations, and transnational projects, such as the solidarity economy, the chapter shows how the local work of the Self-Employed Women’s Association and Marketplace India connect to transnational projects for both economic justice and gender equity. Supporting grassroots organizations engaged in transnational work for gender and economic justice is one route for engaging in transnational feminist solidarity. In terms of methodology, the chapter concludes by suggesting a shift from independence to interdependence, from identity to intersectionality, and from political interest to social and political imagination.

scholarly journals Alone inside: solitary confinement and the ontology of the individual in modern life

2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 355-364
Author(s):  
B. Story
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
The Individual

Abstract. The long-term solitary confinement of prisoners causes fundamentally debilitative psychological damage. This violence, inherent to the socio-spatial organization of solitary confinement, diminishes prisoners' capacity to function as human beings. Yet while violence might characterize the ends of solitary confinement, individuation defines the means. This paper argues that solitary confinement, while an extreme case, shares crucial characteristics with other spaces, structures, and modes of organization familiar to Western society. The actual experiences of prisoners subjected to conditions of total isolation, moreover, contradict the prevailing ontology of the individuated subject. The irreconcilability of this paradox invites inquiry into the political and material problematic of individualism itself. The violence of solitary confinement's spatial practice therefore holds important implications for a critical reassessment of any or all socially isolating institutions and individuating ideologies within the structural fabric of modern life.

Culture and care: literature review of the use of ethnographic methodology in nursing research

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geandra Batista Lima Nunes ◽  
Lídya Tolstenko Nogueira
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
Review Study ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACTObjective: to survey the scientific production and discuss the use of the ethnographic method in Nursing researches. Method: this is a literature review study, whose papers were selected according to the following inclusion criteria: published within the period from 2000 to 2010 in the databases LILACS, BDENF, and SciELO; and refer to the use of the ethnographic method in the development of Brazilian Nursing researches. The terms ethnography and nursing were used as descriptors. The papers were analyzed and classified into thematic category of approach and used of the method according to a characterization script, aiming to answer to the guiding question: How has the Brazilian Nursing used the ethnographic method in the development of researches in the last decade? Results: out of the 153 scientific works found, we selected for analysis, through the inclusion criteria, 26 papers, being 84.6% original articles, elaborated through interviews (100%) and participant observation (62%). The ethnographic method has been used in Nursing to develop studies related to, mainly, the themes of representations and meanings of the process health/illness/care, both for patients and health professionals in their cultural contexts, highlighting the use of the thematic analysis methodology (42%). Conclusion: the ethnographic method has been used by Nursing as a tool for clarifying the representations, meanings, and conceptualizations of phenomena and their cultural relations for research subjects, incorporating a holistic view to the perception of the individual contextualized in a socio-cultural environment. Descriptors: ethnography; nursing; culture.RESUMO  Objetivo: fazer um levantamento da produção científica e discutir a utilização do método etnográfico nas pesquisas de Enfermagem. Método: trata-se de um estudo de revisão de literatura, cujos artigos foram selecionados pelos seguintes critérios de inclusão: publicado no período de 2000 a 2010 nas bases de dados LILACS, BDENF e SciELO; e refere-se à utilização do método etnográfico no desenvolvimento de pesquisas brasileiras de Enfermagem. Foram utilizados como descritores os termos etnografia e enfermagem. Os artigos foram analisados e classificados por categoria temática de abordagem e emprego do método a partir de um roteiro de caracterização, com fins a responder a questão norteadora: Como a Enfermagem brasileira tem utilizado o método etnográfico no desenvolvimento de pesquisas na última década? Resultados: das 153 produções científicas encontradas, selecionou-se para análise, por meio dos critérios de inclusão, 26 artigos, sendo 84,6% artigos originais, elaborados por meio de entrevistas (100%) e observações participantes (62%). O método etnográfico tem sido utilizado pela Enfermagem para desenvolver estudos relativos, principalmente, às temáticas de representações e significados do processo saúde/doença/cuidado, tanto para pacientes quanto para profissionais de saúde em seus contextos culturais, destacando-se o emprego da metodologia de análise temática (42%). Conclusão: o método etnográfico vem sendo utilizado pela Enfermagem como instrumento esclarecedor das representações, significados e conceituações de fenômenos e suas relações culturais para sujeitos de pesquisa, incorporando um olhar holístico à percepção do indivíduo contextualizado em um meio sociocultural. Descritores: etnografia; enfermagem; cultura.RESUMENObjetivo: hacer un levantamiento de la producción científica y discutir la utilización del método etnográfico en investigaciones de Enfermería. Método: esta es una revisión de literatura, cuyos artículos fueron seleccionados por los siguientes criterios de inclusión: publicado en el periodo de 2000 a 2010 en las bases de datos LILACS, BDENF y SciELO; y se refiere a la utilización del método etnográfico en el desarrollo de investigaciones brasileñas de Enfermería. Fueron utilizados como descriptores los términos etnografía y enfermería. Los artículos fueron analizados y clasificados por categoría temática de abordaje y utilización del método desde un guión de caracterización, a fin de responder la pregunta orientadora: Cómo la Enfermería brasileña ha utilizado el método etnográfico en el desarrollo de investigaciones en la última década? Resultados: de las 153 producciones científicas encontradas, fueron seleccionados para análisis, por medio de los criterios de inclusión, 26 artículos, de los cuales 84,6% artículos originales, elaborados a través de entrevistas (100%) y observaciones participantes (62%). El método etnográfico hay sido utilizado por la Enfermería para desarrollar estudios relativos a, principalmente, las temáticas de representaciones y significados del proceso salud/enfermedad/atención, tanto para pacientes como para profesionales de salud en sus contextos culturales, destacándose el empleo de la metodología de análisis temática (42%). Conclusión: el método etnográfico hay sido utilizado por la Enfermería como un instrumento esclarecedor de las representaciones, significados y conceptualizaciones de fenómenos y sus relaciones culturales para sujetos de investigación, incorporando un mirada holística a la percepción del individuo contextualizado en un medio socio-cultural. Descriptores: etnografía; enfermería; cultura.

scholarly journals Assessing (a)symmetry in multilingualism: The case of Mano and Kpelle in Guinea

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Maria Khachaturyan ◽  
Maria Konoshenko
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Language Choice ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Relative Population ◽  
Marriage Patterns ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
L1 And L2

Aims and objectives: The paper studies Kpelle–Mano bilingualism in the broader context of local multilingual repertoires and assesses symmetry in the patterns of language use. Methodology: We combine natural speech sampling with ethnographic observations, interviews, sociolinguistic surveys and elicitation tasks. Data and analysis: The data analyzed includes 88 questionnaire responses, targeted elicitation with 21 individuals, as well as corpus collection and ethnographic observations over the course of fieldwork from 2008 onwards. Findings: Neither Mano nor Kpelle has an overt prestige value. Marriage patterns and economic activity are symmetrical, and both languages can be in certain cases chosen as a means of interethnic communication. However, bilingualism is typically unreciprocated, and the Mano speak Kpelle more often than the other way round. Contact-induced change is almost exclusively unidirectional, with Kpelle influencing Mano. We suggest relative population size as the main explanatory factor. In contrast, both Mano and Kpelle are in an asymmetric relationship with Maninka, which is frequently used by urban Mano and Kpelle speakers. Even if some Maninka claim to speak Kpelle to a certain extent, they rarely use it in real life. Originality: This paper is a report on a previously unstudied multilingual setting. We stress the theoretical and the empirical importance of the patrilect. In addition to its being the defining identity feature, the patrilect is also the main predictor defining the language choice in communication and the volume of the repertoire. Significance: We applied long-term participant observation in various social settings to obtain a fine-grained account of the rules governing language choice, which a typical background questionnaire would overlook. We also sampled natural and elicited speech of L1 and L2 speakers of Mano and Kpelle, a method that yields better results than proficiency tests because it captures interference in grammar, which has far-reaching consequences for contacting languages.

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